The Faculty Senate has approved revisions to the Academic Calendar for academic years 2017 through 2021, including the creation of more predictable, even-length semesters of 69 days of instruction over 15 weeks. The summary period will also be shortened by one day and no exams will be held on the day of commencement.

Katie Brenner, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and her team of co-founders won the 2015 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest in Madison Wednesday for an app-based device to help women monitor their fertility.

The Academic Staff Assembly voted Monday on resolutions calling for more study on a proposed public authority for the University of Wisconsin System and greater flexibility in the timing and amount of state budget cuts.

Researchers have long relied on the venerable and trusted paper lab notebook for keeping an orderly record of research data, notes and experimental procedures. Soon, researchers on the UW–Madison campus will have a new option to store and organize these activities in the form of Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) software services under a new UW contract with LabArchives.

With a long history of both committee work and administrative coordination, Heather Daniels will draw on a wealth of experience as she becomes the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s secretary of the academic staff.